Orthodox Christianity and (Pseudo) Manliness
What we can learn from the Three Hierarchs.
Last year, my team and I wrote a grant that we were particularly excited about.
We hoped to create a sort of “training program” to help guys learn how to be men and, in turn, mentor other young men in their parish.
Because there are a whole host of guys out there, including in the Church, who have very skewed ideas of “manhood.” Guys who think they’re advocating something grounded in the Church but are actually parroting a vision of manhood grounded in contemporary culture—often the worst parts of contemporary culture.
(Maybe you’re seeing a pattern in the stuff I’m writing here.)
Unfortunately, the grant wasn’t approved. Yet I still think about the underlying questions we were considering:
What does it mean to be a man? And how can we help young men discover that about themselves?
These questions come to mind because today is the Feast of the Three Hierarchs. It’s a day we celebrate three men, each of whom can teach us something about a vision for manhood that isn’t grounded in the folly of contemporary thought.
We’ll get to them in a little bit…
But first, we’re going to step back and take a look at the crisis we’re facing.
The Masculinity Crisis
Just search “masculinity crisis” and you’ll find no end of articles and commentaries agonizing (for good reason) over the problem contemporary boys and men are facing. One recent article on The Ringer opens by framing the problem in stark terms:
American men have a problem. They account for less than 40 percent of new college graduates but roughly 70 percent of drug overdose deaths and more than 80 percent of gun violence deaths…Why do women out-achieve men throughout education? Why are men dropping out of the labor force?
Consider also this 2016 piece in Time which considered how that year’s presidential election was being shaped by this crisis:
Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are tapping into what I’m calling a “Lean Out” generation of young, discouraged and angry men—men who are feeling abandoned by the thousands of years of history that defined what it meant to be a real man: to be strong; to be a provider; to be in authority; to be the ultimate decision maker; and to be economically, educationally, physically and politically dominant.
As that Time piece noted, different ends of the political spectrum have offered competing visions for how to address this masculinity crisis. But these visions, grounded in the assumptions of contemporary culture, aren’t particularly helpful.
And that’s because these “solutions” to the masculinity crisis are often variations of the three temptations Christ encountered (and rejected) in the wilderness…
Temptation and the 3 P’s
After His baptism, St Matthew the Evangelist tells us that “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matthew 4:1).
As He frequently did during His earthly ministry, Christ was seeking quiet to be with His (and our) Father. And the temptations He faced were attempts to break that communion: to lead the Son of God into self-reliance rather than humble obedience to the Father.
As we read in Matthew 4:1-11, Satan tempted the Lord in three ways, by challenging Him to:
turn stones into bread;
throw Himself off the Temple and have the angels save Him; and
worship Satan in exchange for the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
These three temptations correspond with a theory of social stratification developed by sociologist Max Weber. He argued that society is divided by:
property,
power, and
prestige.
Consider how they fit in with Christ’s temptation in the wilderness. When Satan tempted Christ to:
turn stones into bread, he was tempting the Lord to seek security in property (food and other physical goods).
throw Himself off the Temple and have the angels save Him, he was tempting the Lord to seek security in power (command of the angelic hosts).
worship Satan in exchange for the kingdoms of the world and their glory, he was tempting the Lord to seek security in prestige (worldly glory).
One by one, Christ rejects these temptations because He is grounded in loving communion with the Father. He needs neither property nor power nor prestige. Quite the opposite, actually!
As Saint Paul explains, Christ became incarnate so that He could empty Himself in obedience to the Father:
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 4:5-8)
Unfortunately, our contemporary approach to manhood isn’t grounded in the Mind of Christ. Even in the Church, we’re drawn to people who frame manhood as the pursuit of property, power, and prestige.
The Rise of Pseudo-Masculinity
While the crisis of masculinity is real, proposed solutions leave much to be desired. At best, these proposed solutions are often scams meant to sell new products or subscriptions.
At worst, they are lunacy.
Consider the influencer Andrew Tate, who is on the extremist fringe of contemporary manhood marketing efforts. Yet, while you may never have heard of him, the teenagers in your life likely do; Tate was recently rated the top influencer in Piper-Sanders’ semi-annual “Taking Stock with Teens Survey” in the fall of 2022.
Tate made a name for himself as a “manliness” influencer who flaunts his wealth and ability to bend women to his will. He's also an entrepreneur who sells online courses teaching young men how they, too, can become “alphas” by imitating his unethical conduct.
A moderately successful kickboxer (who appears to have embellished his record for social media clout), Tate started to make his money by setting up a webcam business where some of his girlfriends “performed” for his profit. So it may not be a surprise that he was recently arrested in Romania on charges of rape and human trafficking.
(For a deep dive into Tate’s works and ideas, check out four episodes of the Behind the Bastards podcast here, here, here, and here.)
Tate is just one example—even if he’s on the more extreme end of the spectrum—of the kind of behavior men are encouraged to imitate in their quest for “manliness.”
Following the 3 P’s we listed above, men are encouraged to pursue:
property, particularly luxury goods (cars, etc.);
power, especially in the form of physical violence; and
prestige, which tends to manifest in a desire for social media clout (often gained by showing off ones access to property and power).
Regrettably, we can see the pursuit of the 3 Ps in Orthodox Christian circles as well:
property, especially get-rich-quick schemes (like NFTs and other crypto scams);
power, especially over women (the desire for an obedient trad wife, a fondness for monarchy and strong social control, support of contemporary strongmen and fascists, etc.); and
prestige, especially on the internet (setting oneself up as a teacher or Orthodox influencer, making a name for oneself by badmouthing bishops, etc.).
The Witness of the Three Hierarchs
Today, we celebrate three great men who each lived, not in search of the 3 Ps, but in disdain of them. We celebrate true men who sought Christ above all else.
Saint Basil the Great, for example, was born into great wealth. Yet, instead of flaunting his fortune or working tirelessly to acquire more, Saint Basil gave up his earthly treasure and sought Christ in poverty and asceticism.
While Christians had dedicated themselves to philanthropic service from the beginning, Saint Basil helped develop the Church’s institutional charity—he built a complex which included housing and even what many consider to be the world’s first hospital. He died poor, yet rich in Christ.
Saint John Chrysostom was a captivating speaker who was trained in rhetoric and law. He could have easily become the head of his own philosophical school, possibly even a high-ranking official in the empire.
Yet Saint John did not desire power. Instead, he criticized the powerful and was exiled for his words. He died far from the center of power, an outcast who sought Christ.
Saint Gregory the Theologian was a brilliant think who could have sought (and acquired) great influence. Yet he resisted attempts to ordain him, preferring to seek Christ in simplicity and asceticism.
During the Second Ecumenical Council, Saint Gregory resigned his position as Patriarch of Constantinople and spent the remainder of his life in a quiet corner of the empire, seeking Christ rather than prestige.
The world is full of people who are trying to frame manhood—whether intentionally or not—in terms of Satan’s temptation of Christ. May we seek a vision of manhood grounded in the Lord. May we shun property, power, and prestige.
May we empty ourselves and, through the prayers of the Three Holy Hierarchs, seek Christ wholeheartedly.
Reclaiming Man- (and Woman-) Hood
As you reflect on the lives of the Three Hierarchs—and what they can teach us about true manhood—perhaps this episode of Be the Bee can offer additional food for thought. After all, is our concept of manhood (and womanhood) grounded in Christ? Or in cultural assumptions?
Wonderful writing, Br. Steven. Very wholesome article. Keep preaching the pure faith.
Thank you for this blog post. I appreciated the chance the think about all of this.